1/72 Testors/Italeri C-47

by Everett McEwan

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First off I want to apologize to all my fellow ARC'ers for being absent for so long, but the good news is in that time I have built a small air force of kits to show you. Coming soon will be my two Blackhawks (MH-60K and MH-60G) my two F-16Cs of the Colorado ANG and my two Navy aggressors (F-18A and F-5F).

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     But first I begin with this kit, this was my first build for hire (although I still have not been paid), a Christmas gift for a friend's grandfather who flew this very aircraft. My friend Steve provided me the kit, something he had in his Dad's basement since he bought it in the early 80's (the release date on the kit was 1979) and I began. I was happy that the kit came with decals for the Navy version already so I would only need to make decals for the nose and tail numbers along with the "Keflavik" on the tail.

      I began construction with the cockpit and interior and kept it simple along with the pilot figures, I did not add anything to detail it since it would not be seen. I then glued the fuselage together and then the wings, no fit problems there. In fact the whole kit built up well, and only needed a small amount of filler (I used super glue and plastic strip). The engines were the only parts that were complex to put together, but even they went together easily without troubles. Overall this was a very easy build and I would recommend this kit to anyone.

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   The only problem I did have during the build was my own fault, I did not put enough glue on the side windows and one of them popped out (or I should say in) when I was holding it. This was very frustrating, I could not retrieve it and I was not going to rip the fuselage apart just for that! So I took some sheet clear plastic I had and cut out pieces to fit into place, they weren't perfect and required some super glue around the edges, I then polished them smooth and clear again. I also added clear plastic to the wings in the holes for the landing lights since one was missing from the kit (lost years ago I am sure) and I polished that clear again too.

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       I then painted it in the basic Navy scheme which is grey undersides (I used dark ghost grey) and white upper fuselage with a black cheat line separating the two colors. I began with the black, masked then did the white, masked and finished with grey. 

Then came the hard part, the high visibility panels. I had only one photo of the plane sent to me by a kind person from Hyperscale's plane talking, and it was black and white and hard to pick out the Orange in the photo. I also had some color photos of Navy Antarctic C-47s from an article in World Airpower Journal giving me some idea of the color and similar paint jobs, but it also showed me there are subtle differences in the planes paint job too. So this was an educated guess paint job. I started by mixing a custom paint of orange and red, and applied, this did not look right so I decided to go to Colpar (our local hobby shop here in Denver) and look around. I found a day glow Orange in the Testors car section and it looked about right, although I was not sure about when I first put it on. It wasn't until I began decaling that the plane began to look right. Sealed with future for decal prep.

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   I thought the decals would be OK since they had not yellowed and had been stored correctly, boy was I wrong. I luckily found this out with a decal that I could replace, the NAVY and stars and bars on the underside- I used some decals left over from my A-4 kits to replace them. They both shattered into a million pieces when I applied them to water. I then got out my trusty micro sol decal film and saved the day! After coating the rest of decals, they were fine. 
I should have tested them with something I could live with out (like the alternate British markings), live and learn, you never know with decals! My custom decals had some trouble sticking on the tail numbers for some reason, I think I put on too much decal film (they were thick) after the kit ones broke up, I became paranoid. Sealed it all with Testors flat coat. 
I weathered with chalk pastel sludge again. 

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   Then I turned to mounting on the stand, my friend Steve wanted it "in flight". I originally wanted to use clear plastic rod like in the article here on ARC describes "Making Display Stands by John Chung" but I could not find the clear rod anywhere, no one in town seems to carry it! I tried Colpar, Hobby Lobby, Micheal's, even Home Depot! No luck. So I had to settle on a brass rod (not seen in photos- taken before delivery to Steve) that I bent, not pretty but got the job done. If anyone out there knows where I can get the rod please let me know, I might do an "in flight" again someday. The wooden base was from Hobby Lobby.

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    I finished this whole project in a about two weeks, well before Christmas, and brought into work for Steve, I was happy to meet my deadline early and make his Grandfather happy. After all that it turns out that Steve's Dad still has not given his father the plane, so I still don't know if he likes it. Oh well maybe someday I'll hear, but I think it looks good. 

Everett McEwan

 

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Photos and text © by Everett McEwan